UgandAshis 46 A long journey

UgandAshis 46

August 9, 2009

A long journey

A nine hour drive from Kampala through Mbarara, Kisooro led us to the Rwandan-Congolese-Ugandan border. The park is known for a group of mountain gorillas and several groups of the Golden Monkeys. Once again this country surprises with a variety of natural beauty. Towards the end of the end of the journey we have seen the African eagle, long horn cattle in Muyankole land, impala and the yellow warbler.

The stretch of highway from Kampala to Mbarara is the most deadly road in Uganda. Potholes pop up every 100 meters and the driving of the average driver can be called reckless. Our driver Gad is a well experienced one and luckily so as we are pushed off the road on one or two occasions. The further we drive to the South West the more breath taking our view becomes. The road’s tarmac has disappeared and the last 60 kilometer takes us a long time as the road winds its way up and down through the mountains. We can see volcanoes, rain forest and soaring eagles in the air.

On the road I am reading Dian Fossey’s book: ‘Gorilla’s in the mist’. Most people have heard of the movie with Sigourney Weaver in the lead role. The story is about the region. Although she worked in Congo originally with the war lord’s and the increase of violence she eventually had to flee to Uganda. Her work had to be restarted in Rwanda where she encountered a lot of activity of poachers. Today one of the major sources of income for the three countries in this region is gorilla tourism. There are less than 500 mountain gorillas to be found in the world and all in this region and the neighboring Bwindi national park.

Dian Fossey’s object of study, the gorilla’s eventually where poached and killed. To satisfy the need of certain zoos around the world gorilla babies were captured. Gorillas however protect their youngsters to death so capturing one baby gorilla can easily lead to the death of 10 adult gorillas. It is horrifying but true. Dian Fossey’s live also ended in drama – it is not clear who killed her – but she was killed after having studied her gorilla groups for over 15 years.

Back to the journey I can only say one thing about Uganda – what a magnificent country. From savannah to rainforest to mountain range to hill land, lakes to river land. All is available here. It is not for nothing that one of the highest densities of plants and animals in the world are found in this country. Draped across the equator ancient forest is the home of the varied flora and fauna.

If you have the chance; come and visit this country. As far as the safari goes I have a feeling it is better than Kenya. And if you love birds you cannot miss out. Chameleon lovers – fly in straight away – chameleons are a plenty.

Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma